' ... who I hold to be not only the greatest poet, but also the greatest moral teacher that England has ever produced,
'"To thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man."
'In conclusion, sir, I ask, without fear of contradiction, are we or are we not, in this matter of the National Debt, to be true to our national selves?
'Yours obediently,
'A Conscientious Taxpayer.'
The signature troubled him. His pen hovered threateningly over it, and finally he struck it out and wrote instead: 'Paterfamilias.' He felt that this pseudonym was perhaps a little inapposite, but some impulse stronger than himself forced him to employ it.
CHAPTER III
HIS CHRISTENING
'But haven't I told you that I was just writing the very name when Annie came in to warn me?'
Mr. Knight addressed the question, kindly and mildly, yet with a hint of annoyance, to his young wife, who was nursing their son with all the experience of three months' practice. It was Sunday morning, and they had finished breakfast in the sitting-room. Within an hour or two the heir was to be taken to the Great Queen Street Wesleyan Methodist Chapel for the solemn rite of baptism.
'Yes, lovey,' said Mrs. Knight. 'You've told me, time and again. But, oh Henry! Your name's just Henry Knight, and I want his to be just Henry Knight, too! I want him to be called after you.'